Close the Curtains
by Cattypatra
Summary: The adventure of Kingdom Hearts is over, and it seems to leave Sora with a bitter taste in his mouth, Kairi's rejection, and Riku's crying day after day. The sea cries, childs laughter fades, and maybe, maybe some advenures really do end. RikuSora


This basically came from an urge to write something really beautiful and moving. I'm not sure if it is or not, but oh well.

Oh, and there's shonen ai if you squint.

So, the end of the adventure… The end of everything, really. The end of the smiles, the laughter, and all the good things that came before it.

aaaaaaaaaa

"_When we get back to Destiny Islands, Sora, will everything be the same?"_

I so badly wanted to reassure Kairi. As she stared at me through innocent, sparkling eyes. I wanted her to have that expression just a little longer. I didn't want to have to be the one to take that hope and joy away from her. Let her live on more day in peace. Let her not have nightmares about the broken spirits of the legend of the Keyblade… That is all I wanted…

So I lied.

"_Sure Kairi, everything will be fine!"_

But I knew it wouldn't be. And I was right.

The end of the adventure. The worlds were all sealed, and I would never see my friends again. I said good-bye to Donald, Goofy, Leon, Cloud, Yuffie, Jack Skellington, Ariel, the princesses… and more. I said goodbye to them all. The mournful good-bye's at the end of a journey, never to be seen again. A painful parting of ways, that somehow afterwards, you know that things will never be okay again.

I guess people say I'm a hero, for now. But I know that I'll be forgotten. Of course I will, just like Hercules will, just like Mulan will, through time, and just like the legend of the black and white keyblade's.

So, here I am, once again on Destiny Islands.

I remember how badly I wanted to see other worlds, with Riku and Kairi. I thought that it was all one big game. An adventure for us all to share, enjoy, smile, and laugh at. Another excuse for us to stay up late, roast marshmallows and always come out victorious.

But no one came out victorious.

We didn't smile.

And the harsh reality of what happened sinks in.

We were split up, the keyblade divided between me and Riku. He betrayed me. And I'll never forget he look on his face as he submitted to the overpowering, sweet scent of the darkness. How Kairi's lifeless body lay before me and her lips turned blue. Her heart caught in-between two worlds

Things weren't meant to happen that way. We were meant to be inseparable, perfect, best friends forever, or something like that.

And, finally the adventure finished. The painful, flashes of Riku's blood on my hands, Kairi's tears at what I was doing, the Heartless crying out as I destroyed them, Ansem's happy face, as he was set free. The night's of nightmares, or agonising over destiny and its fickle machinations.

And then we were back… as simple as that. As if nothing had happened. Our world restored just as it was before it was destroyed. As if life expected things to go on just as they were before we had our big adventure.

"_When we get back to Destiny Islands, Sora, will everything be the same?"_

And now I know the answer to that question.

"_No, Kairi, things will never be the same."_

We had all changed too much.

Kairi's eyes had lost that sparkle, as she waited for us out at sea. She waited three years, until I finally came back, a bloodied Riku slung over a shoulder, the Oblivion keyblade hanging loosely from one of my gloved hands.

And that was when she knew, when Kairi finally understood, when she lost that beautiful spark of life that was just Kairi. She knew, that no, that I had lied to her, that nothing would ever be the same. Her blue eyes dropped to the sand, her now long hair wisping about her face, and she turned away from me.

It took Riku months to recover. I had injured him badly in the last battle; it was really a miracle that he survived.

"_Sora, I'm sorry."_

_Riku reached out a hand to touch my face, thick black and red blood trickling from his perfect lips._

"_I never meant for this to happen," he whispered to me. His voice was faint, as if the wind might snatch it away at a moments notice._

"_Hang on," I replied ferverently, hauling his body over mine. "It's going to be okay," I whispered, trying to reassure him._

_He smiled._

"_No Sora, it's not, and I'm sorry. Because things will never be the same again."_

At the time I hadn't believed him. I was still a child wrapped up in the game, the adventure, before I knew it to be corrupt.

Riku was always right. And as an adult, he was still right. I guess it's just the paradox that is essentially Riku. He might have chosen the other side, but all in all, he was still right.

Riku died that day. And I know what you must be thinking. Oh my god! How could a hero kill someone! Did he kill him with the Keyblade! Of course not. I wasn't strong enough to kill him, like he asked me too. I still had some hope in the light, I still wanted to be the hero, I still wanted to win the game, and laugh with my friends as we started out on another one.

He died in a different way. On the inside.

His beautiful green eyes, lost their spark, just like Kairi's. They looked dead, whenever I saw him, he looked dead. I remember that I used to think about how beautiful his hair was. How the white strands would tumble and twirl in the light ocean breeze, how his pale skin would reflect the sun, and how his face would light up as he turned around to see me behind him.

Now, he is nothing like that. Hollow cheekbones, ash coloured skin, his face holds no warmth.

He barely ate once we came back to the mundanely perfect string of islands. He didn't talk as much, and he started to fade away. With no sleep, bags grew under his green blue eyes. His body became a mixture of old flesh and painfully visible ribs.

It wasn't the Riku I loved anymore.

Me and Kairi became distant, I knew that she was once loved Riku, and now she hated me for killing him on the inside. I can tell she would have preferred that Riku rest in peace rather than keep on living, she was always like that. Too kind. I wish that I was as strong as her, and sometimes I wonder why the keyblade didn't choose her as its wielder, because she certainly had a much stronger heart than me.

Nightmares began to plague me, and I started to miss my old friends, the friends I would run and leap in the golden sands with. Even if the adventure was over, my nightmares didn't stop, it didn't mean that the horrors had left my mind.

_Heavy breathing echoed throughout out the woods._

_A flash of blue green eyes, narrowed in hatred._

_It couldn't possibly be real._

_A scream._

_Thick blood pooling in equally thick strands of ethereal silver hair, reflecting the low hung moon._

_The metallic sound of a blade landing against the underbrush._

Kairi eventually stopped coming to visit me and Riku. She used to come to each of our houses almost everyday, stopping by to talk to us. But we never talked to her. Riku ignored her, and it was to painful to look into her broken face.

She became distant, until I didn't see her anymore.

I started to miss her scent. I missed the way she moved, how she smiled even though she was sad, I missed everything that was essentially _Kairi._ I missed her long hair, her floral skirts, and the way she used to try and laugh with me, protect me. She would always try to protect me even though, deep down, she hated me. Loathed me with all her heart. Because I had destroyed Riku, and I had lied to her.

"_I love you…"_

_Kairi turned her large, blue eyes onto me._

_She offered me a sad smile._

_My voice caught in my chest._

"_I… I love you," I tried again, stronger this time._

_A soft sigh._

"_But Sora…"_

_And then I knew, she didn't have to say anymore to me._

_I let out a shaky breath._

_A glare from her eyes._

_My heart skipped a beat._

_Tears clinging to long, deep red-brown hair._

"_I hate you, Sora."_

Tidus didn't believe me when I tried to tell him about our adventures. He just laughed and shrugged it off. He was always like that, perfect, and would never believe something until he saw it. But I guess it was better that way. So he wouldn't have to know the torment.

I never even tried to tell Selphie or Wakka, I couldn't do that to them.

I started to avoid people. I couldn't bear to look at the smiling faces of the people that lived in Destiny Islands. And being with Tidus and Selphie made me sick, I couldn't bear to watch them smile shyly and blush at each other. And me and Wakka were never that close to each other.

I couldn't see Kairi anymore, and Riku… well, Riku didn't really do much. He either wasted away in his house, the blinds drawn firmly shut, or he cried. He cried all the time, a shell of my old best friend. He would occasionally venture out of his house, but no one knew why.

"_I'm sorry, Sora…"_

"_Stop saying sorry, Riku. You know you don't need too."_

_The burning image of a hollow face crusted with dried tears._

The only places I would go were Paopu Island and my house. Or even to the shops if I really had too. People were wary of me there, I was like a legend on the island, me and Riku, one day we were fine, the next, we were grown up, and we couldn't even breathe.

"_Don't go near him…"_

_I clutched the bloody keyblade to my chest, eyes glassy._

_The villagers were in chaos._

"_He's a murderer…"_

"_Did you see all that blood!"_

"_He suddenly comes back, and look what's happened to him…"_

"_I guess even the best of people go bad…"_

_My name flitting through lips like an illustrious butterfly._

"_Sora…"_

_Getting louder…_

"_Sora, Sora, Sora…"_

_I started to scream._

"_Don't look at me!"_

_A desperate plea forgotten in a sea of murmurs._

"_Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora…"_

_A thud._

"_Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora..."_

_And then perfect, blissful darkness._

"_Sora, Sora Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora, Sora..."_

_And one burning question._

'_What would Riku say?'_

The wind rustled the tips of my spiky brown hair.

The perfect breeze only found on Paopu Island.

The crisp, clean ocean breeze washing over me in gentle waves. It's amazing, that no matter how hard I wished to get away, how much I missed these simple pleasures. The gold spun sand, the tall, arching palm trees, the sweet taste of paopu on my lips, the salty residue from the sea clinging to your skin… it was marvellous. And I wouldn't trade it for anything, except maybe for things to go back to the way they were.

For the adventure to undo itself, and pull itself apart by its seams.

I leaned back into the glorious sand, and wiggled my toes through it. I closed my eyes, and felt the sunset wash over me, like a sea of bright light bathing the island in its empty promises.

A sad smile.

A shuffling.

"Sora…" my name whispered into the purple, gold and pink light of the sun.

My eyes slowly cracked open.

A gasp hitched in my throat.

It was Riku.

He's been crying again. His silver hair lying daintily on his narrow, muscle-less shoulders. He was wearing his clothes, from so long ago… the shirt that had once been tight on his well muscled torso was painful baggy, and his legs seemed to get lost in his pants.

Why did he have to wear that today?

_Yellow stained red underneath a long black cloak…_

I nearly cried.

His haunted eyes looking blankly into mine.

I wanted so badly to just run over to him. To sweep him into a tight embrace, hold him against my chest and crush him in my arms. Mutter sweet nothings into his ear.

But I knew that I couldn't.

It would only break him more.

"Sora?" he tried again, voice cracking as he tried to coax a response out of me.

"Yes Riku?"

A silence. Not awkward or strained. Just the inevitable, heart-braking absence of sound.

"Why did you forgive me?"

He's asked me this before.

How could I not forgive him?

I could say something about being best friends, but I wouldn't want to sound corny, to take away the depths of emotions by saying such simple words.

I pulled him in a gently hug, not to break him both physically and emotionally.

"How could I not forgive you?" I asked him gently.

I hear him sob into my shoulder, and for some reason, it makes me unbelievably angry.

"I'm sorry."

I can't take it anymore.

I snap.

Over a year of carefully guarded emotions, of trying to rationalise, of getting my heart, broken again and again, not just from other people and the circumstances, but also from myself.

I shove Riku away from me. He goes flying, his skinny body practically weightless to me.

He hits the sand with a dull thump.

_Riku grinned down at me, his face sweaty and amazingly **alive.**_

"_What's wrong Sora? Can't keep up?" he mocked, his voice full and cheerful over yet another victory._

_But I wasn't so easily perturbed. I picked up my wooden sword and swung at him again, and he brought up his sword in a flurry to block mine._

_The sound of our laughter echoed out over the waves._

Riku cowered up at me.

"Stop saying sorry!" I screamed, my voice hoarse from barely any use.

He cringed and tried to gather himself together.

"I'm sorry."

I lashed out at him, my hand impacted harshly with the side of his face, sending his head backwards with a snap.

"STOP IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE SORRY!" I yelled with everything I had. I screamed and yelled, and roared with everything that I could muster.

Tears swam down Riku's face, as he struggled with the effort of sitting up. His green blue eyes scrunched up in pain.

Better pain than nothing at all.

"Get up!" I snarled.

Riku sobbed with the effort, his weak body failing him yet again.

He looked up into my eyes, trying to please me. But his legs gave out, and he crumpled against the shore of Paopu Island again.

"GET UP!" I shouted again, almost dizzy with madness.

"I can't," he choked out through his swollen throat.

"GET UP!" I spat again.

"I CAN'T!" he yelled, infuriated with his desperation, back at me.

His voice shook me out of my haze of madness and anger.

He started to sob again, and clutched at his eyes,

"I… I'm sorry Riku." This time it was me apologising.

"You think I like being this way!" he demanded furiously.

My lips parted, I didn't know what to say.

"You think I like being this way?..." he asked pitifully before he broke down again.

His frail arms covering his face, as if he didn't want to let the world in.

I crawled over to him, and drew him gently into my arms again. And we sobbed together. Our tears mingling with our flesh, blood and souls. The sound of the broken lapping over the lapping waves. The sound of a girl crying when she locks herself in her room, that wrench the mother and father out of their fight to hear her near soundless plea.

_Tears down my face._

"_Don't cry, Sora."_

_It was Donald._

"_Here," Aerith said as she handed me her handkerchief._

_Yuffie ruffled my hair._

_Leon grunted._

_Goofy hauled me to my feet._

_And Cloud smiled._

When our sobs subsided, we just sat in each other's arms.

It wasn't awkward, like I thought it would be, but it wasn't perfect either. Nothing was, but the peace that consumed me, was enough to make me smile at Riku.

"How about we go back to my place and I can fix us some hot chocolate?"

I said it before I even realised, and was suddenly afraid. What if Riku said no? What if he hurt me too?

Another silence, the absence of yet another happy emotion to name and file away to look at later.

I was growing worried as seconds ticked over into minutes.

"As long as you used the packaged stuff, you remember last time?"

A simple question.

Silence.

And then we both laughed.

We hadn't laughed in what seemed like lifetimes. Not properly laughed, where it's not forced, but comes from somewhere deep inside you. When it become contagious, and you laugh until it hurts to breathe, and happy tears come from your eyes. When you can forget for just a second, and enjoy the warm sensation that engulfs you.

"Sure, I can use the packaged stuff," I replied softly.

I started to stand up, and Riku began to look dismayed, until I reached out my hand to him.

He took it cautiously, and I hauled him to his feet.

I slung one of his arms around my shoulder and supported him, as we made our way across the creaky bridge from Paopu Island over to the main island.

I smiled as I felt Riku's plush hair fall across my neck, and I sighed as I inhaled his scent. Strawberry, very Riku.

_The scent of bloody strawberry on the wind._

_A falling body…_

I smiled. And Riku looked confused at the gesture.

And maybe, even Riku was starting to heal. Heal slowly.

And maybe when he heals, he might let me love him…

If that day ever comes.

_Cloud looked up at me underneath bright blonde bangs._

_I smiled, and he smiled gently in return._

_I sat opposite him in the stands of the empty coliseum. _

"_Remember this, Sora," he said, as if he was slightly unsure._

"_Sure, Cloud," I piped back._

"_Even after the adventure ends. You have to keep on going, even when you think it's all over. It never is. That's when the biggest adventure of all starts."_

"_And what's that Cloud?"_

_His smile turned slightly bitter._

"_The path of recovery."_

So, even forsaken, bloody heroes have to keep on living.

Maybe it's just fate and her twisted little games, maybe it's the legend of the keyblade, or maybe it's like karma, a fundamental rule of nature.

But as I sit across from a hollow Riku in an empty home, I can't help but smile.

Maybe fallen heroes really can heal.

_The laughter of three children echoed throughout the land surrounded by water._

_The sound engrained in the deep oceans that sparkled blue._

_In the wind that whistled through the rocks._

_Through the dawn that highlighted the beautiful plain._

_Through the twilight that corrupted it._

_Laughter never to be laughed again._

And maybe some adventures really do end…


End file.
